The moment Bolingoli may have imploded Celtic career... with Lennon left to sort out debris
Manager ‘personally hurt’ by Covid breach
LAST Friday, Neil Lennon addressed the breach of coronavirus restrictions at Aberdeen in the strongest possible terms, and warned his own players that being standard bearers in their own behaviour was now their duty. Little did he know that one of his own had just been through duty free.
The actions of Boli Bolingoli in travelling to Spain, then compounding his flagrant disregard for his manager’s warnings by having nothing to declare upon his return and failing to enter quarantine, are equally baffling and personal to Lennon.
All the Celtic manager can do is hold his hands up and offer sincere apologies to the rest of Scottish football, like a disappointed parent admonishing a child who the local constable has dragged to his door by the ear.
If Bolingoli was in any doubt about his position at Celtic now, then it would have been dispelled when Lennon was asked yesterday if he had personally been hurt by his deception.
“Yes, I am,” Lennon said. “My physio Tom Williamson has been working all the hours god sends and he is devastated.
“We were at the forefront of this, trying to get football back. We worked so hard on the stadium and the training ground, with all the testing that we’ve done, all the loggings we have to do with the health and safety aspect and this has just put a huge dent in all the work that has been going on behind the scenes.
“We’re appalled by the actions of the individual. We’re very angry about it and very apologetic to all of the Scottish clubs and our supporters.
“It is something which was unforeseen. We have tried everything in terms of being in a safe environment around the club. We’ve led the way with protocols and practices, and we’ve been really let down by an individual. We are going to have to suffer the consequences.
“He’s apologised. It might have been done on a whim, but he knew, basically, what he was doing. When you book a flight, you know when you are going, you know when you are coming back and none of us were aware of it.
“After the Hamilton game, we made it clear to all of the players they couldn’t leave Glasgow as we gave them a couple of days off which they deserved. Boli took it upon himself to go to Spain and not tell anyone and not tell anyone when he came back. “Obviously, we found out about it on Monday and we were just so perplexed, but also in despair of it, really.
“Now we have had the message loud and clear from the Government and the First Minister.
“I feel for the club and everyone who has worked so hard over the lockdown to get everything in place to start football back.”
Lennon’s ire was exacerbated further by the postponement of Celtic’s next two fixtures, with the trip to St Mirren scheduled for this evening called off along with the visit of Aberdeen on Saturday.
That lays down a clear example to Bolingoli of the consequences of his actions, which he alone should bear responsibility for according to his manager.
“We are aware that the next few games are postponed and that’s a huge blow,” Lennon said.
“We’re trying to get our season going and build momentum. But we’re going to have to accept this and adapt to it as best we can. I don’t know when the fixtures can be rearranged for but it’s something that’s going to be a headache down the road.
“We have our European game next week and we’re going into that with 10 days without actually playing. It’ll give us a few days extra training to prepare for it but it’s not ideal. This has affected our preparation for that.
“Ultimately it has to come down to personal responsibility. You cannot be any clearer than saying, ‘don’t leave Glasgow. Stay around if you are going to the shops or whatever.’
“Now, we have to log in everything we have done in terms of where we’ve been. There are no restaurants, no socialising, no cafes, but this particular individual has decided to jump on a plane and go to Spain for a day which, again, is baffling. Then he comes back and doesn’t tell anybody where he has been.
“We have been totally oblivious to it for the whole week leading up to the Kilmarnock game. Obviously, he played some minutes in the game and, again, we were oblivious to it.
“But all this came out and blew up in our faces really. So, in terms of the club’s responsibility, the club can’t do any more.
“The club have done everything possible for my backroom team, the playing staff, the people who work here at the club. Everybody has done their bit. We’ve had umpteen rounds of testing now and everything is negative. But we can’t legislate for the behaviour of an individual.
“We can’t legislate for tracking them 24 hours a day. Sometimes you have to take accountability for this.”
Meanwhile, UEFA have confirmed that Celtic’s first round Champions League qualifier with KR Reykjavik will go ahead next week, despite reports suggesting the Parkhead club may have to forfeit.